What You Could Have Had
by Toxica
Summary: An Uchiha always gets what he wants, no matter what? WRONG. SakuraxOC, however MAINLY SakuraxSasuke
1. 1

"Come in," Shizune rang from inside the Hokage's office, while gently stacking some paper work that Tsunade had surprisingly completed

**SAKURA x OC Sakura x Sasuke.**

**(A/N: Huzzah! A new story; and what do ya know? It's another SasuSaku one P What can I say, I love writing about the two :) ****Oh god and you know what? The other day I got an idea for a Jiraiya&Tsunade fan fic slaps forehead I KNOW RIGHT, THOSE TWO OLD FARTS? Haha, should be quite interesting though, I've always wondered what would happen if they ever got together xD anyyyyywaays, pleaaaaase read & review, if you are any sort of person, you'll know how important reviews are to a writer, gives you the **_**umph!**_** That motivation to keep on writing P)**

**Summary:** (Bare with my laziness…I'll write one some day P, but I promise this will be a good story, filled with heaps of drama, romance and such ;) you just wait)

"Come in," Shizune rang from inside the Hokage's office, while gently stacking some paper work that Tsunade had _surprisingly_ completed.

Sakura turned the golden door knob and pushed open the door gently, smiling tiredly at the two women. She panted as she limped over to a spot across from Tsunade's desk and wiped some sweat from her forehead. Tsunade looked up from her cluttered desk and smiled at the pink-haired medic nin in response; she was glad to see someone who she regarded as a daughter alive and somewhat well after coming back from such a dangerous and complex mission.

"Ah Sakura, you look a mess, ANBU treating you ok?" Tsunade spoke, pushing her lips back into a straight line and lacing her fingers together.

"As well as they possibly can," Sakura laughed, clutching a bloody wound on her shoulder.

Tsunade studied the girl's wounds with her sharp eyes and propped her chin on her laced hands thoughtfully; perhaps she was pushing Sakura a little too much? It looked as if the pink-haired medic nin had been so busy that she barely had time to heal herself, and what good is a medic nin in a squad, if they're severely injured or dead?, but then again what's a little push in the right direction for someone with such great quality skills that were expected to surpass Tsunade's? She'd eventually get used to it- or have to. If Sakura was to be placed back into a normal shinobi squad, her abilities, to some extent, would be going to waste. She was meant for greater things as a medic nin.

"Look, Sakura, I've been meaning to have a serious talk with you," Tsunade began, gesturing for Shizune to bring her a bottle of Sake from the wooden cabinet to the left of her.

Shizune shook her head in disagreement and grabbed a teapot; heading for the sink in the mini-kitchen situated in the room next to Tsunade's office. Someone really needed to tear Tsunade away from her bad habits and Shizune was determined she'd be the one to. Sakura laughed as she watched her master jump out of her chair, slightly irritated and bang her fist on the desk, causing a medium-sized crater to appear in the centre of the table.

"Lady Tsunade, it's for your own good!" Shizune chirped; power walking back into the room with a steaming cup of tea placed on a floral patterned saucer. "Oh my, and that's the 6th table this month we're going to have to replace, you really have to learn to calm yourself, don't make me book you into an anger management session with Jiraiya-sama,".

Tsunade gaped at the raven haired women and sighed disappointingly, crossing her arms in front of her like a little kid who was just refused some candy; about to throw a tantrum. She couldn't believe how she ever let Shizune get away with being so bossy and demanding, but it was hard not to appreciate and admire all the hard work Shizune put into doing things to make her life slightly simpler.

"Thanks for the tea," Tsunade sighed, glaring at Shizune as she lifted the teacup delicately by the handle and brought it to her lips; taking a sip as she did.

"I really did miss you two," Sakura grinned, after witnessing Tsunade and Shizune's usual power struggle; she'd often wonder how the two stayed so close for so long considering their friendship resembled that of Naruto and Sasuke's, slightly toned down though.

"We missed you too Sakura," Shizune smiled, resting a hand behind her head.

"I'm glad you're ok, it was quite a mission I hear," Tsunade nodded, looking up from her tea every now and then.

Sakura nodded and suppressed another sigh of pain from escaping her lips.

"Now about that serious talk- How are you doing keeping up with the ANBU? It's good hearing how remarkable you're doing in the missions, but if its jeopardising your own health, then to hell with it," Tsunade exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air comically.

Sakura laughed and rolled her eyes. "Look, I'll admit, ANBU missions are pretty intense and theres absolutely no room for mistakes; but you know I like I challenge and I'll never back down from one,".

"That's my girl," Tsunade smirked; her attention quickly averting to the door where a knock could be heard.

Sakura and Shizune turned around simultaneously and waited to see who would walk into the room. Sakura's eyes widened and a barely audible gasp escaped her lips as she came eye to eye with the familiar face who had just knocked on the door.

His captivating eyes were an obsidian colour and his skin a medium tan colour. He had black hair that was gelled into spikes and a well sculpted athletic body that nearly made Sakura drool all over herself. The boy nodded unenthusiastically and marched forward, stopping right in front of Tsunade's desk; his chained buckle up boots slightly jingling as he walked.

_-Sasuke…- _Sakura gulped, continuing to stare at the Uchiha in front of her, who was obviously trying to hide the fact that he himself was also quite stunned to see the pink-haired kunoichi.

"Kakashi sending you to run his errands?" Tsunade chuckled lightly, extending a hand in front of her.

"Hn," Sasuke replied plainly, thrusting a few sheets of documentation into her manicured hand.

Sakura couldn't help but continue to stare at the Uchiha as memories of their last encounter invaded her mind. The crying and heartbreak she felt, the way he carelessly continued to walk away as her screams of agony filled the night and the last words she had heard him utter before she fell unconscious.

It had been 4 years since she had last seen him and now she was standing in the same room with him, no more then a metre away and sub-consciously hoping that any second he'd turn around and greet her. Of course he did the exact opposite. The raven-haired Uchiha bowed towards Tsunade and exited the room as stiffly as he had entered, closing the door firmly behind him; trying not to show any interest in Sakura whatsoever.

Sakura exhaled nosily in relief as she heard the door close. Tsunade and Shizune averted their attention to the flushed medic nin; both eyeing her in curiosity. Sakura had told them both about her deep feelings for Sasuke, and Tsunade, being the mother figure that she is, tried her hardest to keep Sakura occupied so that she would not think of that 'arrogant', 'selfish' Uchiha anymore and hopefully grow out of her feelings; obviously that seemed like it had not happened.

The pink-haired beauty giggled nervously as she realised all eyes were on her and averted her gaze to the floor.

_-Get a grip Sakura, you are so over that bastard- _Sakura thought to herself, clenching her fists and snapping her head up firmly, with a determined expression on her face.

Tsunade cleared her throat and clapped her hands together. "As I was going to say before the _interruption_, I expect a report on my desk by Monday, then you may have the rest of the week off if you wish,".

"Hai," Sakura nodded, bowing towards the two women; snatching at the door knob and gripping it firmly, using it to turn her stiff body around.

"Crap, I almost forgot," Sakura remembered, spinning on her heel suddenly and letting her grip loosen on the door knob.

"Hm?" Tsunade looked up in alert; arching an eyebrow.

"During the mission, we found a severely injured male just outside of the village we were operating in and after a few discussions, we thought the appropriate thing to do was to bring him back to Konoha and have people attend to his wounds ASAP, followed by some questioning," Sakura explained, crossing her arms in front of her.

"You brought an unknown person into our village?! What kind of bullshit rational thinking is that?! Sakura, you know better then that! What if he's a spy?" Tsunade shouted, jumping up from her chair and banging a firm fist onto her desk again, which collapsed under he hand.

Shizune gasped and let her head collapse in her left hand as the sound of wood collapsing echoed in the room.

"It wasn't just my decision, the whole squad agreed and it doesn't matter if he's unknown or not, if it wasn't for us, he would have died! I won't let someone die, not if I can help it," Sakura retorted, a look of slight disgust spreading across her face.

"Sakura, do you understand what this means? The whole village could be in danger all because of this kid! Do you even know anything about him? Name? Age? Place of birth? What he's capable of, most importantly?!" Tsunade replied, trying her hardest to calm down; she never liked yelling at Sakura, it pained her in a way, however sometimes it was necessary.

"We figured he would be around my age, as for a name, he said _'Jiro'_ before he lost consciousness completely and as for what he's capable of- he seems harmless! If he was any sort of threat I'm sure he wouldn't have let himself get so beat up," Sakura sniggered, biting the inside of her cheek irately.

Tsunade dropped her arms and slumped back into her chair, sighing. What was she to do? She couldn't exactly boot this 'Jiro' kid out of the medic ward and leave him in the middle of nowhere; contrary to belief she wasn't that cold hearted and what if after a good questioning he revealed some information that was of use to Konoha?

_-What now?- _Tsunade rubbed her temples indecisively.

Sakura exchanged expressions with a worried-looking Shizune and turned her gaze to her troubled master. She couldn't help but wonder if maybe Tsunade was right, maybe he was a spy; but why would anyone go as far as beating themselves up for such a job? It was ridiculous and no-one was that stupid, right? Sakura sighed and plastered a determined smile on her face before taking steps towards her master and resting a hand on her shoulder. Tsunade looked up and frowned in response.

"I know I might have screwed up and if that's the case, I apologise before hand, but you have to trust me on this one, this kid- I don't think he's dangerous and if you're so reluctant about the situation, I'll keep an eye on him, ok? I'll get to know him a little better and ask a few questions, either way I'm going to prove to you that this guy isn't a threat," Sakura nodded determinedly and with that, spun around and exited the Hokage's office.

Tsunade sighed and looked up, shooting a glance at Shizune, who gripped her sleeves nervously and bit her lip.

"Am I like that sometimes? So…stubborn?" Tsunade smiled.

"Sometimes?" Shizune laughed. "Try all the time; you've really influenced her,".

"Yeah… guess I have,".

_-Good luck- _Tsunade thought to herself, gripping a pen comfortably in between her index and middle finger and beginning to doodle on the piece of paper in front of her.

--

As Sakura reached the bottom of Hokage Tower and stepped outside, she titled her head upwards and inhaled a large sum of cold winter air; that made her shiver as it reached her lungs. She hoped she was doing the right thing, the fate of Konoha was pretty much resting on her shoulders and she'd never forgive herself if anything happened to the village and most importantly, the people she loved. Sakura was suddenly broken out of her thoughtful haze by a distinctive male voice, belonging to the only loud, blonde, knucklehead ninja she knew- Naruto Uzumaki.

"SAKURA!" Naruto shouted, running enthusiastically towards the front of the Hokage Tower.

Sakura smiled and waved as firmly as she could without causing herself too much pain.

It was nice to see that stupid grin again, for the last time she had seen Naruto, he had just come back from a mission and the poor thing was sitting next to Hinata's bed in the hospital, crying his eyes out due to the Hyuuga girl becoming fatally injuried during the mission; of course by the end of that, his feelings for the shy lilac-eyed beauty were clear.

"Sakura!" Naruto spoke again as he came to an abrupt stop right in front of the pink-haired medic nin; resting his hands on his knees as he caught his breath.

"You're awfully excited," Sakura smiled playfully.

"Well it's so good to see you! We never thought we'd see you again, we were so worried that you-you…well…that you might've died," Naruto explained, letting his head drop in exhaustion.

"Um- we? Who's we?" Sakura arched an eyebrow curiously; was he meaning the other teams? Or perhaps himself and Kakashi?

"Me and teme, silly! Who else?" Naruto chuckled, punching Sakura ever so lightly in the shoulder as he put a hand to his forehead and scanned the area for the sharingan bearer.

Naruto pointed enthusiastically into the nearby distance, as he spotted what would be considered Sasuke's signature 'chicken-butt-hairdo'. Sakura frowned as she followed the direction in which the blonde was pointing to with his index finger and spotted none other then Sasuke Uchiha, pacing up and down behind a bush as he tried to unnoticeably sneak glances at his teams-mates; rather team-mate and former team-mate.

Sakura waved playfully and laughed as she watched the Uchiha freeze, as if he had just been caught stealing cookies from the forbidden cookie jar! Sakura brushed a few strands of pink hair behind her ear before letting her arm fall to her side.

"I see he's still as uptight as ever, when did he get back from…you know," Sakura trailed off, trying not to project too much interest into her voice as she straightened out her clothes.

"About 2 years ago, Izumo and Kotestu found him crawling through the gates almost bleeding to death and as much of a bitch as Granny Tsunade can be, she let them heal him, of course it wasn't 'cause she wanted him to live, she was just hoping to get some useful information on Orochimaru, you know how that hag is," Naruto smiled turning from side to side in his spot, like a kid with severe A.D.D.

_-Bleeding to death?!- _Sakura bit the side of her lip, not taking much notice to the fact that Naruto had just insulted her master.

"He's ok now though, he killed Itachi, so don't you worry," Naruto smirked, averting his gaze to the distressed looking kunoichi.

"Worried? Who said I was worried?! I'm-just-intersted-in-whats-been-going-on-while-I-was-gone-well-I-wouldn't-exactly-call-it-interested-you-know-just-sort-of-curious-of-course-I-don't-care-about-Sasuke," Sakura exhaled nosily.

"Who said anything about worrying about Sasuke in particular?" Naruto shot a foxy grin at her.

Sakura felt her cheeks start radiating with heat and cleared her throat; immediately changing the subject.

"So, how's things with Hinata?".

Naruto blushed and turned away from the kunoichi; resting a hand behind his head as he continued to grin nervously.

"T-things are g-good…..," he replied.

"Good how?" Sakura asked in a comically seductive voice.

"I KISSED HER! And we held hands and and and cuddled and…," Naruto jumped around happily; coming to an abrupt stop as he caught a glance of Sakura giggling at his smitten behaviour.

"W-what?" Naruto pouted, burying his head in between his now crossed arms.

"Nothing, I just think you two are so incredibly cute," Sakura laughed, poking her tongue out at the extremely embarrassed blonde.

All the laughter and smiles came to a stop as a raven-haired figure he stood in front of them cross armed; arching an eyebrow in a completely unimpressed manner, as if Naruto and Sakura were inferior to him. Naruto ran a hand through his hair and cleared his throat awkwardly. Being around Sakura and Sasuke at exactly the same time was a pain when they were kids, now that they were 17; the tension was a little unbearable for the blue-eyed jinchuuirki.

"I just remembered, I have a date with Hinata at Ichiraku's, I'll see you's later," Naruto waved, power walking away as casually as he could without them noticing his rush.

Sakura sighed and let out an annoyed 'Bye' before locking eyes with the Uchiha standing in front of her. The two stood in complete silence for a while, both waiting for the other to speak, both not taking their eyes of each other, both perhaps waiting for something miraculous to happen?

After a fair while, Sakura quickly peered down at the pink watch cuffed around her wrist and sighed before averting her gaze back to Sasuke's obsidian orbs.

"Hm, if you don't mind, I'd like to go to the hospital now, this glaring competition was a whole lot of fun, but you see I can't stand around all day doing nothing because I have business to attend to," Sakura rolled her eyes, brushing passed Sasuke and limping towards the hospital.

_-__Maybe I should have said something- _Sasuke frowned, kicking a nearby rock that was on the ground.

**(A/N: Oh la la, its going to get good, I promise you's that and I know I've said this before, but I really want to finish writing this story, I really do, I'm going to try my hardest not to end up getting writers block!**

**R&R please, give me some feedback/suggestions; this would be my 5****th**** ever published fan fic :) NO FLAMES YO'!**

**Hope you's are well,**

**Love,**

**Toxica**

**xoxoxoxoxo)**


	2. 2

(A/N: Chapter two :) Ty for the reviews;

**(A/N: ****Ty for the reviews;**

**x0x0x0Raina-himex0x0x0x**

**lovegaara4ever**

**Rae Ahn Mae**

**Also everyone who put the story on alert :D ty ty ty ty so much**

**and so Chapter Two commences :) )**

A strained grunt escaped Sakura's cherry lips as she struggled to push the heavy, glass hospital door open. The first thing she noticed after battling with the hospital door to gain entrance, was a bubbly looking blonde, sitting behind a desk and typing, what looked like updated medical records, enthusiastically on the computer. Sakura giggled at the girl's poor typing skills and watched as she snapped her head up in alert and turned from side to side; searching for where the girly laughter had come from. A smile sprang to the blondes face as an image of a familiar pink-haired teenager reflected in her baby blue eyes; and she immediately jumped out of her seat, knocking the keyboard on the floor and ran towards Sakura.

"Saaaakurraa!" Ino squealed, throwing her arms around Sakura, either some how ignorant to the fact that Sakura was barely standing because of her wounds or disregarding it all together out of excitement.

"It's nice to see you too Ino," Sakura grinned, hugging the blonde back, trying to ignore the fact that she was aching all over.

"Oh my god! I can't believe you're back; it's been like over a year since I last saw you! I was dying here you know! I've searched high and low, but can't quite seem find a best friend and part-time rival like you," Ino stuck her tongue out at Sakura playfully; before brushing her fringe out of her face and striking a pose as she admired her reflection in the glass hospital doors.

Sakura rolled her eyes and smirked. Ino hadn't changed one bit. She was still her bratty, vain, loud and over-exaggerating self; and Sakura wouldn't have it any other way. No matter how many times she fought with Ino (over stupid things mind you), the two would always end up being best friends. It was obvious the two were meant to be friends; nothing and no-one could change that.

Ino finally managed to tear her eyes away from her own reflection and stared happily into the emerald orbs of the teenager in front of her. The two smiled at each other and embraced in another friendly hug.

"Notice anything different about me?" Ino squealed.

"Nope, you haven't changed one bit, how great," Sakura giggled.

Ino quickly pulled away from the injured Haruno and allowed her jaw to drop as she nudged her ponytail to the side with her head and rested a hand on her slim waist. Sakura frowned at the odd behavior of her best friend and flashed an uneasy smile.

"Haven't changed one bit?! Please don't tell me you're serious," Ino gaped, making clicking sounds with her tongue.

Sakura laughed and rolled her eyes. "If you're implying you have, well…I really don't see what you mean Ino, honestly,".

"Well for starters, I've grown breasts," the blonde laughed, twirling from side to side in her spot as if offering Sakura to admire her new 'assets'.

Sakura sarcastically examined Ino's chest as if she we conducting a science experiment and brought a finger up to her chin. "Now, Ino, how much did they cost you?".

The Yamanaka girl laughed at the clever remark and slapped Sakura on the shoulder playfully; Sakura's face scrunching up as a jolt of pain shot through her arm.

"Free, God's gift to me for being so incredibly attractive and fabulous," Ino grinned, brushing some lint from her shirt with a manicured hand as she looked down at her chest.

"Right," Sakura coughed mockingly; smirking and arching a perfectly shaped, pink brow. Sometimes Ino did tend to go a little too far, but it was amusing nonetheless.

"I wouldn't be making fun about other people when you're looking like that. You have no idea how much you remind me of Sasuke with that expression- he's been asking about you lately, you know?" Ino smiled cheekily. "And when I say lately I mean since the first night he stayed in the hospital,".

Sakura froze; her grin immediately diminishing and replaced with a straight plump line and widened eyes. Instantly her cheeks began to radiate with heat while the light hair on the back of her neck stood up in alert. Her bottom lip trembled as she swallowed some spit in hope to calm herself; but no matter what, that feeling as if she had just been punched in the chest harshly would not disappear and her thoughts would not come to a relaxed halt.

"-if you know what I mean," Ino finished her sentence, biting her finger nail thoughtfully as she looked up at the ceiling; which was a habitual thing for Ino when she was thinking.

"Huh?" Sakura frowned, shaking herself out of her shocked state as she caught the last of Ino's sentence.

Ino popped her finger out of her mouth and wiped what little amount of saliva coated the top of her finger on Sakura's torn and blood-stained top, with a cheeky grin.

"One mention of Sasuke and you go all loopy," Ino teased, bouncing up and down in her spot. "How cute,".

"N-No, not loopy, I was just shocked that the Uchiha thought of someone other then himself," Sakura sniggered; surprised at how she was able to prevent herself from stuttering or saying something stupid which would have lead Ino to suspect Sakura still had feelings for Sasuke.

"Mhm," Ino nodded at the pink-haired kunoichi skeptically; obviously not convinced.

"Ok enough about that, what else is new about me!" Ino squealed, her question sounding more demanding and less like a question then ever.

Sakura exhaled nosily and studied the Yamanaka carefully.

_-She looks slightly bigger around the middle, maybe she's pregnant? Shikamaru would love that-_ Sakura laughed at her own thoughts.

"Well!?" Ino whined.

"Uh- are you pregnant?" Sakura asked, tightening her muscles as she felt another jolt of pain shoot threw her body.

Since she was unable to heal herself due to lack of chakra, she was going to need someone else to attend to her wounds and it could get serious if she didn't received medical attention; but first, she needed to finish off playing Ino's 'game'.

"No! _Close_ but no! What made you think pregnant!?" Ino screeched, glaring slightly at Sakura.

"Never mind," Sakura giggled; it was best to keep her assumptions reason to herself otherwise things could get ugly.

"Can't you just tell me? I don't think people will be pleased knowing the reason I died was because of your retarded guessing games, if it ever came to that," Sakura poked her tongue out at the obviously seething blonde.

"Fine," Ino sighed, as she waved her left hand in front of Sakura's emerald orbs.

Sakura's eyes widened as a bright diamond ring, which was placed around Ino's fourth finger, sparkled back at her, reflecting shapes onto her face as the hospital lights hit the expensive object from above. Sakura held Ino's hand into her own and cupped her unoccupied hand over her mouth as she squealed in shock (or delight).

"Oh my god, INO! Are you married?!".

"Married? No, no, just engaged, Shika-baby and I decided we're too young for that, but one day, we will be married, and we'll have little Shika-Ino babies," Ino sighed, as she titled her head to the side and closed her eyes; entering her dreamy state.

Sakura desperately pushed her lips together, trying to suppress the laughter that was building up, but she couldn't stop the images of Ino being a mom from flashing in her head, not to mention how serious Ino's expression was when she had said it. Sakura had never thought she'd live to see the day where Ino would be engaged to someone; the girl had ridiculously high standards, hows it possible she had found what she was looking for in the most laziest, smartest and averagely good looking person in Konoha? If Sakura remembered correctly Ino's list was made up of the following traits: _Incredibly good looking, filthy rich and romantic-_ all of which Shikamaru was not.

Not a moment later, Sakura was leaned up against the white hospital wall, clutching her stomach as she spat out laughing, unable to suppress it any longer. Ino gaped and pouted comically, turning away from her best friend (and frequent rival) who was in utter hysterics to the point where she was crying from laughing.

"Shika-baby…that's…just…to…funny…for…words…and…you…as…a…mother? Now…that's…just…amusing," Sakura managed to verbalize in between long periods of laughter.

Ino exhaled frustratedly, glared at the bubble gum coloured hair kunoichi and crossed her arms. Why did everyone find that so hard to believe? She hadn't told many people about her future plans (rather future hopes) with the lazy cloud watcher; however the people she did tell would always end up like Sakura; struggling to breathe and wiping tears from their eyes as a result of extreme laughter. (minus Hinata of course and Inoichi.. man was that guy an overprotective father, he'll need atleast 2 months to cool off after what he's just heard his 'baby girl' say).

"_Honestly _Ino, I'm happy for you," Sakura nodded, sporting a huge grin and wiping some tears from her eyes as an aftermath of laughing so hard.

"You mean that?" Ino faced the teenage girl next to her; her baby blues glistening with joy.

"Of course. I'm glad and slightly amazed that you found someone that can handle your constant nagging and whining," Sakura joked, nudging the blonde softly in the shoulder.

Ino blushed and smiled. For some reason, hearing those words coming from Sakura just meant a whole lot more then she anticipated; all the silly fighting was worth going through, just so they could have these moments- the closest thing to a heart-to-heart conversation for the both of them.

"Oh! I was going to ask you- anyone by the name of Jiro checked in today?" Sakura scratched the back of her head; still unsure if that was the boy's actual name.

"Um," Ino hummed as she dashed over to her desk and rummaged through a few piles of documentation and clipboards.

Sakura limped over to the white, mildly cluttered reception desk and leaned on the counter, watching as Ino scurried from left to right searching for the 'check-in' clipboard. Sakura sighed and drummed her fingers on the counter rhythmically; this could take a while, 'neat' and 'organized' didn't seem to quite describe Ino.

"Aha! Here it is. Now, Jiro was it? Jiro, Jiro Jiro, hrm…" Ino muttered as she slid her index finger down the list of names.

"Found him! He's in room 202…OH MY GOD. Sakura, if this is who I think it is; he's really really cute!" Ino giggled, blushing uncontrollably as she snapped her head up to face the frowning Haruno.

"I'll keep that in mind,".

Sakura snapped the clipboard from her ditzy friend and re-read the room number, along with some other relevant details that were printed onto the sheet next to his name. Jiro was 188cm's tall, he had type A blood and he originated from the Village Hidden in the Mist.

_-The Mist? What would he be doing just outside of the Sound if he's from the Mist?- _Sakura thought, biting the side of her lip curiously; she hadn't even meet him and she had already spotted what could be a potential loop hole in his 'story'.

She determinedly slammed the clipboard back onto the counter and limped on forwards to room 202; leaving a dumbfounded Ino sitting on the floor surrounded by more then a hundred sheets of hospital documentation. Sakura had questions, tons of them, and she was going to get her answers no matter what. She remembered challenging Tsunade, and backing down was not something that came to her easily; after hanging out with Naruto so much, its expected for his traits to rub off on anyone. She did the talking and now she was off to do the walking. (Or uh... limping)

--

Sakura sighed as she came face to face with the slightly faded numbers on a door that read "202". She could already feel the knot in her stomach and her hands were clammy, just like before she'd perform an intricate operation. Her voice squeaked as she cleared her throat and prepared to knock onto the door which was alright slightly ajar.

"Are you going to come in or just stand there all day?" a charming voice from inside the room spoke.

Sakura took a step back and cupped a delicate hand over her mouth as she gasped. How did he know she was there? She nodded and pushed open the door, watching her feet as they clicked into the room; kicking the door shut behind her after occupying a spot a meter and a half away from the hospital bed. When the pink-haired medic nin had mustered up enough courage to tear her eyes away from the ground, Sakura looked up to see a shirtless male, with brown hair, dark tan skin and sparkling blue eyes. She was rather amazed at how defined all his muscles were and immediately looked away.

"I'm sorry, did I startle you?" Jiro questioned politely, sitting up in his hospital bed so that he could get a better look at the pink-haired beauty.

"N-No, I was just surprised that- How did you know I was there?" Sakura cut through her previous sentence, taking a seat on a blue and beige floral patterned chair that was positioned bed side.

"It's kind of hard to act as if no-ones there when I can hear someone clearing their throat and wipe, what I would assume as sweaty hands, on their apparel," Jiro smirked, resting a finger on his chin.

_-Oh fuck, now I look like an idiot-_ Sakura sighed nosily, allowing her head to drop in embarrassment.

.

"I'm sorry….".

"Hm?" Sakura looked up in alert, wondering if she was starting to hear things or whether the stranger whom she had just met was apologizing to her.

"I just realised how incredibly rude what I said might have sounded," Jiro explained as he fiddled with his fingers.

Sakura couldn't stop the sides of her mouth from rising upwards and forming into a smile. The way he was sitting there, with his hair pushed back slightly and his eyes locked onto his thumbs which he was fiddling with nervously; she had to admit, Jiro looked so adorably cute.

_-Stop being such a pervert Sakura and get down to business- _Sakura sighed inwardly. Of course; she had questions and she needed answers.

"What were you doing in the Sound if you're from the Mist?" Sakura blurted rudely, shooting Jiro her best intimidating stare; which just caused him to arch an eyebrow and chuckle in response.

"You know, you're really cute when you do that expression and if it's not too bold to say… you've got the most amazing eyes I've ever seen…. more beautiful then an emerald itself," Jiro smiled, bending over and resting his hand under Sakura's chin; stroking it gently with his thumb.

"YOU REALLY MEAN IT!? – THANKYOU! Oii, Uh, wait, don't change the subject!" Sakura argued with herself out loud, slapping Jiro's arm away harshly.

Jiro retrieved his arm and gripped it tightly; his face scrunching up as he hissed in pain. Sakura gasped as she looked directly in the boy's sparkly blue eyes. He looked so hurt and broken- kind of how she remembered she had looked when Sasuke had left the village 4 years ago to train under Orochimaru. The guilt started to settle in; perhaps Sakura wasn't fit for the outright aggressive approach that her master was known to use when interrogating people.

"Look, I'm really sorry, I'm not really cut out for this, is your arm ok?" Sakura sighed, tapping her index finger on her plump cherry lips.

"Not cut out for this? Now see, if it was anybody else, preferably a woman who did not possess such beauty as yours, I'm sure I would have just pissed myself out of fear," Jiro chuckled, massaging the area where Sakura had slapped him that was now sporting a huge red mark.

Sakura giggled at his remark and looked down at her feet which she tapped on the floor thoughtfully. What was she to do know? She had been in the hospital room for about 11 minutes now and still was nowhere closer to finding out who exactly this kid was. All she knew was his name, height, blood type and where he was from; all of which were no relevance to the things she needed to find out.

Jiro watched the medic nin as she crossed and uncrossed her arms in front of her chest and chewed the side of her lip thoughtfully. Smirk. She was so cute. When he had _somewhat_ asked whoever was standing at the door to come in, he had not anticipated Sakura. He supposed it was one of the ill-mannered nurses, coming to check up on him, or that ditzy blonde at the reception desk which looked as if she had a fever every time she asked questions, which in his opinion were irrelevant and quite dim-witted.

After a period of silence, Sakura rose from her chair and limped over to the machinery that was set up around the hospital bed; her boots clicking as they made contact with the marble tile floor. She couldn't come up with a solution to her interrogating problems and she wasn't about to visit Tsunade and let her have a go at the hospitalized boy, so for now, it was best to do nothing; which in this case would be interpreted as anything else but interrogating Jiro. Perhaps Jiro would speak on his own? She hoped so.

"Are you ok? You look like you need some medical attention yourself,".

"Yes, yes, I'm alright, just a bit worn out," Sakura smiled; a few 'beep' sounds emerging from a machine where Sakura was frowning and pushing a few buttons rapidly.

_-Argh, they screwed it up again!-_

Sakura had to wonder how the hell some of the nurses who worked here had ever gotten employed when they didn't even know how to set up a simple piece of machinery properly; who in the right mind would put lives in the hands of these retards? Of course, she already knew the answer to the question; Tsunade. Sakura remembered the chat Tsunade and herself had had about staff shortages when she was volunteering in the hospital and having to work 3 days in a row in order to make up for it; of course by her own choice.

"I don't know," Sakura heard a voice say as she finished fixing up the settings on the last machine.

"Hm?" Sakura arched a perfectly shaped brow.

"About your question before- I don't know, I can't remember anything," Jiro nodded, looking up at the pink-haired medic nin innocently.

"Are you sure you're not just making this up? because if you are, I swear I'll punch you so hard you'll fly all the way back to the Mist," Sakura growled, resting her gloved hands on her hips.

"Sounds fun, too bad I won't be able to enjoy the ride because I'm not lying," Jiro smiled cheekily at the girl.

"You think you're so smooth don't you?" Sakura sniggered, sitting on the edge of the hospital bed.

"I'd like to think so do you," Jiro smirked.

"Guys," Sakura tittered sarcastically.

"Have lunch with me,".

Sakura gulped and stared wide-eyed as she processed what Jiro had just said. Lunch…with _him_? If it wasn't for her rational self butting in, she would have already said 'yes' so quick, it would be almost inaudible. What would Tsunade think of her student, someone whom she regarded as a daughter, having lunch with the enemy? She'd go ballistic of course, but then again, how was Sakura to decline such a request from someone so unbelievably good looking? She'd never took a liking to guys so quick after meeting them, but she knew she'd probably regret turning away the offer; besides, this could be the only way of forgetting _Sasuke_ if a relationship formed from this date.

Sakura perked at the idea of forgetting about Sasuke once and for all. Of course she loved him more then words could explain, but it was getting annoying chasing after the emotionless Uchiha (or so it would see); it might have been ok for when she was a 13 year old fan girl, but now she was 17, a year away from being an adult, and she wanted it all to stop.

"What kind of question is that?" Sakura smiled flirtatiously and arched an eyebrow.

"It wasn't a question," Jiro smiled.

--

"And and and…THEEEN we watched the movie and kept hugging. What do you think I should get her for Valentine's Day? Flowers?! Chocolate?! This is harder then I thought," Naruto scratched the back of his head and pouted as if he had just eaten a whole lemon.

A typical training session for Team Kakashi. Naruto being hyperactive, loud and bragging about Hinata non-stop. Kakashi sitting up in a tree, giggling like a school girl over one of Jiraiya's pervy paperbacks. Sai sketching a nameless piece of art work or reading 'Socializing for Dummies'. And Sasuke leaning up against a tree with his hands in his pockets; not the least bit interested in what Naruto was talking about.

In Sasuke's opinion, if the Kyuubi bearer wanted to talk so much, why didn't he go and bother Sai? The dickhead needed help with his socializing skills anyways; it would be like practice, ne?

"For the hundredth time Dobe- I really don't care," Sasuke glared at the blonde, who stopped talking abruptly and pouted in response.

"It's not like you ever talk, so I'm doing the talking for the both of us," Naruto grinned stupidly, resting his arms behind his head as he leaned backwards on the tree trunk.

"Don't worry Sasuke, it could be worse,".

The two childhood friends turned around simultaneously and frowned at Sai who stood in front of them, hugging a sketchbook under his left arm and smiling idiotically.

"Who said I was worried?" Sasuke snapped, sliding a kunai out of his holster and flipping it in his hand.

"Lets just hope dickless here doesn't become Hokage, otherwise he'll be doing the talking for the whole village, and we'll be over run by Ramen shops," Sai continued to smile idiotically.

"Oii! That's not so bad! Actually.. THAT'S THE LIFE!," Naruto grinned as drool streamed out of his mouth.

"Shut up Dobe," Sasuke rolled his eyes, slapping his best friend across the back of the head.

"Ow! That hurt teme! What's up with you lately anyway? You've been worse then usual, just when I thought it couldn't get any worse," Naruto grinned at his own joke.

"When I was visiting the library, I read in a book that the reason why guys act more like assholes sometimes is because they're sexually frustrated and need to get a girl," Sai smiled. "It's a very common behavioral occurrence,".

Sasuke twitched and felt himself blush a deep red. _'Get a girl'_. That was only part of Sai's sentence he couldn't disregard. Only one girl came to mind and only one girl **ever **did- _Sakura_.

Since the Uchiha had gotten back to Konoha, that's the only person he really looked forward in seeing besides Naruto. Hell, the boy was half bleeding to death, crawling through the gates and whispering her name. He hadn't always been attracted to Sakura- at first he despised the girl because she seemed to be just like every other fan girl, annoying. However after a while, she grew on him and it was hard not to fall under the spell of those innocent emerald eyes and that incredibly attractive smile he loved so much. Of course only now does he realize how much of a mistake leaving Konoha might have been, for he might never get to hold her in his arms and feel her heart beat sync with his while kissing her plump cherry lips.

"Teme? Oii, Sasuke?!" Naruto clicked in front of Sasuke's blank face with his fingers.

"What?" Sasuke glared, awakening from his thoughtful state.

"_Trainings _over lets go get some ramen," the blonde grinned, spinning around on his toes like a ballerina out of excitement.

"Hn……..- by the way Naruto…," Sasuke began.

"Mmm?" Naruto arched an eyebrow. Sasuke had called him 'Naruto' not 'Dobe'..so that could only mean one thing.

"I-…..I need to talk to you about something, and it stays between us ok?" Sasuke sighed, fidgeting with his hands.

**(A/N: I really don't know what to say about this chapter I wrote a lot of irrelevant shit haha, especially conversation wise, but I just don't want to rush the story and it'll make sense why later in the story. :) anyways hope you enjoyed, and remember to PLZ REVIEW.**

**Hope you's are well,**

**Love,**

**Toxica**

**xoxoxoxoxo)**


	3. 3

"So

**(A/N: HERE IT IS! DUM DUM DAAA. Chapter 3.**

**As always I've very grateful to my reviewers.**

**Unices- Of course I'm going to continue! I just hope no-ones going to be disappointed with what I write. I'm glad you're interested in it so far :) Thankyou for the review.**

**RaeAhnMae- UPDATE IT HERE! xD! Thankyou for the review.**

**lovegaara4ever****- xD Thankyou so much! Haha, yes it is pretty obvious or.. you're just a smart cookie! Teehee, yes, I find the image of THE GREAT SASUKE UCHIHA fidgeting quite amusing as well :) Thankyou for the review.**

--

_-Smartass- _Sakura rolled her eyes.

"I barely know you," Sakura smirked, folding her arms in front of her chest. "And what makes you think I'm that easy?".

"Well, what better way to get to know me then over lunch? Unless you want to make it dinner," Jiro winked, before stretching his arms in front of him and yawning tiredly.

Sakura giggled and rolled her eyes; this guy obviously had quite a way with words, which is why she had to watch what she said incase she got herself into something she'd rather steer clear of at the present moment.

"As for the easy part, well, you seem to be quite the-uh-_feisty_ girl, **which** **never** translates to 'easy'; however I'm sure because of that reason you've pretty much got every guy in the village chasing after you right?" Jiro continued, smiling cunningly at Sakura, who was now back in her bed-side table seat.

_-__And he's got a sense of humour as well- _Sakura sniggered inwardly.

"Well that's where you're wrong, I don't. Not that they'd be able to get to me, what- with missions and all," Sakura replied, lifting her head up proudly; nothing like a little gloating.

"Good, that would mean theres no competition," Jiro grinned, before reaching for the clear glass containing water that sat on his bed side table.

_-__So much for steering clear of such situations- _Sakura thought, thrusting the glass of water in Jiro's hand.

After many attempts of retrieving the glass from his bed-side table, Jiro had given up due to severe abdominal pain. Sakura took pity on him after watching his failed attempts and decided to help out, which earned her one of his pleased smiles and a thankyou.

_-Bet he's broken some hearts with that smile- _She thought, placing the now empty glass back on the bed-side table and rising from her chair.

"So, lunch? Or would you much rather dinner?" Jiro proposed once again, wiping some water from his chin.

"You heal up, and then we'll talk," Sakura laughed, winking cleverly at Jiro before exiting the hospital room and shutting the door firmly behind her.

Sakura exhaled nosily as she leaned on the white hospital door of room 202. She smiled at the way she ended the conversation; neither accepted nor declined. Midst of feeling pleased with herself, she couldn't help but wonder wether perhaps leaving things in such a way wasn't the smartest thing to have done.

_-Maybe I should have- no, no, of course not, I'm not like that- _Sakura shook her head in disagreement to her thoughts, allowing her pink bangs to fall on her face.

Jiro seemed to be a nice, ridiculously good looking guy, but the idea of her dating someone whom she just met, made her feel out of place and unprofessional; in the sense that she would be dating someone she was sent to interrogate, or rather she insisted interrogating, but not in those words exactly.

Nowadays, her life _completely_ revolved around missions and she couldn't help but take a liking to that, for missions weren't as unpredictable so much anymore, she knew they were challenging and that was that; she always had a fair idea of what she'd be getting herself into. Dating however, was on a totally different level, and though she wouldn't admit it to herself, subconsciously, it was obvious she was having a hard time letting go of Sasuke, even with this new desire for Jiro brewing- but as always, she ignored anything to do with such a subject and turned back to things she found a hundred times more relevant- like getting her wounds attended to.

**(A/N: **I don't want Sakura to be some whiney obsessive compulsive girl/women she's usually portrayed to be; she's strong and feisty in this :) aka a lot more like Shippuden Sakura, rather then normal Naruto Sakura.**)**

--

"So...you were saying?" Naruto broke the silence, pulling apart a pair of wooden chopsticks and fitting them in-between his fingers comfortably.

"Hm?" Sasuke looked up from his plate of steaming hot ramen in alert.

Ramen was never one of his favourite meals, as opposed to Naruto who practically lived on the stuff, but right now, the fact that he wasn't a fan of ramen was the last thing on the Uchiha's mind. He just needed to talk to someone, someone who always made sense of these sorts of things and gave great advice; of course to his dismay, the only person he knew with such traits was Naruto.

"What did you want to talk about?" Naruto replied, his voice muffled by the amount of ramen he was stuffing into his mouth; obviously not having parents took its toll on Naruto, for it was obvious he had not been taught any table manners.

Did anyone mind? Of course not.

"…Dare tell anyone about this, and anticipate the worst," Sasuke glared, feeling beads of sweat beginning to conjure at the side of his forehead.

"Ok, ok, geez. What's so important anyway?" Naruto sighed in a slightly irritated voice.

In Naruto's opinions, that was the problem with Sasuke. He was always stalling when there was something important to be said or discussed, particularly when this 'thing' about to be discussed revolved around a subject he was far from familiar with.

The two endured more silence, before Sasuke finished planning his 'speech' and began to talk.

"Hypothetically speaking, a guy likes a girl, but they haven't particularly been close for the passed two years and he-uh- realises how stupid he was for…_deserting_….this girl and wants to tell her how he truly feels but she no longer seems to take a liking to him anymore. What would you suppose he should do in a situation like that?" the Uchiha finished; lowering his head after realising the speech he had prepared was a little more obvious then he had originally anticipated. But then again, Naruto was kind of slow, right? Surely he wouldn't catch on just yet.

Naruto shot him a foxy grin as he pushed bits and pieces of food out of in between his teeth with a tooth pick. Contrary to belief- he had caught after the first 7 words spoken by the raven-haired boy, but after realising how hard this would have been for Sasuke, he thought better not to make a big deal out of it- there was plenty of time for teasing.

"It's obvious you're- I mean- the _guy_ is going to have to have to make it up to this girl, first by attempting to earn her full friendship again, however if that doesn't go well then it's a lost cause," the blue eyed jinchuuirki explained, flinging the tooth pick in his empty ramen bowl.

Sasuke felt his heart drop. He'd thought along those lines, but he only really payed attention to them after Naruto had said them. The Uchiha suppressed a long-drawn out sigh and lifted his head up.

"And if it does go well?" he gulped.

"Well then, he'd also have to earn her trust, and then when the time is right, he should tell her how he feels, and apologise for his past- I mean uh- depending on what he did and why he deserted her to begin with," Naruto continued, eyeing Sasuke's untouched bowl of ramen carefully.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and pushed the bowl of ramen in front of Naruto who grinned and dug into it straight away. He knew he wasn't going to eat, so it would be best just to give it to Naruto before he went insane from ramen withdrawals. **(A/N: **Someone call the Ramen Rehab clinic. xD**)**

"Last question; How would the _guy_ know when the time is right?" Sasuke clenched his fists nervously.

"Heee jushgt wouldhsgt," Naruto mumbled almost inaudibly.

A plain 'Hn' escaped Sasuke's lips as he took out a few coins from his pocket and flicked them onto the counter as he walked past it.

"Oii wheaargsh are chuuu goieengsh?" Naruto shouted, picking bits of ramen off of his jumper and stuffing them rapidly into his mouth.

"I've got more important things to do then watch you stuff your face Dobe," The Uchiha smirked, as he ducked out of Ichiraku's Ramen Bar.

He had to admit, it was a bit embarrassing for him, the 17 year old Uchiha heartthrob to have asked Naruto, the hyperactive and knucklehead ninja for relationship advice, but whether he liked it or not, it was just one of those things he had to do. Sasuke's mind turned to revising what Naruto had said carefully as he began walking around Konoha aimlessly, with his hands in his pockets.

According to what he was told, he had to earn Sakura's friendship and trust again, once he'd done that and all was right between them, he would tell her- he would tell her everything he had left unsaid for way too long and hopefully win her heart back.

Sasuke perked at the thought of Sakura being his girlfriend, however part of him couldn't help but feel as if everything was about to take a turn for the worst. What if Sakura would reject? What if he failed to even reach the friendship stage again? What if he would eventually find himself regretting killing Itachi all because it meant he couldn't be with Sakura?

His thoughts came to an abrupt halt as the Uchiha found himself staring dumbfoundedly at two glass doors which reflected his image back at him. He had been so caught up in his own thoughts that he hadn't realised where he had gone; it was as if his legs had a mind of their own and directed him _here_. Konoha Hospital.

--

Sasuke stepped to the side as an unfamiliar auburn-haired genin stepped through the doors on crutches, giving a nod in Sasuke's direction symbolising a 'hello'. Sasuke frowned and nodded in response; obviously some people had become even less social then he was.

The raven-haired teen slid his foot in-between the two glass doors before they snapped closed. He stood still for a moment, unsure of what he was doing and unsure of what to do next until to his dismay, a set of legs complimented by a pair of pointy, canary yellow heels stood in front of him. Sasuke looked up and glared. Here stood someone who would probably get on his last nerve.

"Sasuke! What are you doing here? Come to visit Sakura have we?" Ino teased, tapping her left foot on the ground as she slipped a clipboard under her arm and retrieved a pink nail file from her denim skirt pocket.

**(A/N: I KNOW I KNOW, THIS IS SHORT! DON'T HURT ME!**** I've been to caught up in watching Trigun! :( Haha, I wanted to update this as ****often**** as I can so yeah :) I hope you guys aren't disappointed in me, I promise to make the next one really long alright? Theres nothing more I hate then letting down my readers! –does super hero pose- xD Anyways, REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW –points to review button- and you'll get free cookies, OH YER! **

**Maybe suggest something? I'm always open to suggestions :)**

**Hope you's are well,**

**Love,**

**Toxica**

**xoxoxoxoxo**


	4. 4

**(A/N: CHAPTER 4! :)**** R&R.**

**Thankyou so much to my reviewers :)**

**Caramel Crazy- UPDATES HERE. Hope you like it :) & Thankyou for the review.**

**Unices- Sasuke jealousy scene (rather scenes) to be coming up and I'll try making them as original as possible, thankyou for the suggestion&review xD**

**lovegaara4ever- Hehe I know :) you just wait till you see Sasuke getting extremely jealous, it'll be twice as good xD hope you enjoy the chapter and thankyou for the review xD**

**Q: Do you always answer to every review before a chapter?**

**A: Yes of course :)**

**Just in case someone asks xD**

--

Sasuke growled inwardly as he glared at the blonde in front of him who was so preoccupied with filing her nails that you wouldn't have thought she knew of the Uchiha's presence. She swiftly stretched her arm out in front of her and squinted as she admired her work from a distance, turning her head left to right and changing expressions as she examined her nails as if they were a work of art.

"Well?" Ino snapped, getting a glimpse of Sasuke before averting her gaze back to her hand.

"I wasn't aware she was volunteering here again," Sasuke replied plainly, nudging his dark bangs from his face.

"She's not, unfortunately she had to check in here because she was so _run down_ from the mission," Ino explained dusting her nails on her apparel; putting emphasis on the words 'run down'. "I don't know how she does it, not a lot of people would be able to keep up with the ANBU,".

Sasuke arched an eyebrow intriguingly; Sakura was working with the _ANBU_? He remembered Kakashi commenting that Sakura had not been part of the team for a while and would not be returning; however he failed to specify why she was on a new team to begin with and who would be on her new team. Sasuke assumed not many people knew about it, which is why he hadn't; such information would be classified as confidential information, but he wasn't entirely sure Ino knew that, or of the word.

_-Sakura__...with the ANBU? Interesting. Very Interesting- _Sasuke mused.

"Finding that interesting are we, Uchiha?" Ino smirked, slipping the nail file back into her denim skirt pocket and poising a hand on her waist.

"Perhaps," Sasuke replied, now stepping forward and allowing the two glass doors to snap close.

"You know what I find interesting?" Ino began, following right behind the raven-haired boy as he walked further in.

"What ever made you think I would be interested in hearing what you find interesting?" Sasuke smirked whirling around then continuing to dart his obsidian eyes around the room as if in search of something.

"You're too much of a smartass for your own good, you know?," Ino sniggered folding her arms against her breasts.

"As opposed to being a dumbass?".

"Ouch, that's not very nice," Ino groaned seductively.

"Hn," the Uchiha murmured, spotting the check-in clipboard perched up on the reception desk counter.

_-Times like these I wish I had the Byakugan- _Sasuke humoured himself as he walked towards the desk only to be stopped by Ino, who firmly placed a hand on the Uchiha's ripped stomach, pushing him away slightly as she did and snatching the clipboard off the counter.

"Now...what would you want with this?" Ino teased, dangling the clipboard in front of the already displeased looking boy.

"Ino, give me the clipboard," Sasuke urged, snatching at her arm.

Ino swiftly dodged and threw the clipboard into her other hand as she backed into a wall, grinning at Sasuke, who glared and marched forward, cornering her.

"You're going to have to do something for me first if you want the clipboard," Ino smiled flirtatiously, slightly brushing her lips against his jaw line as she tried to position them closer to his lips.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and pushed the blonde away gently, after all- no matter how annoying a women could be, he learned he'd rather anything then to hurt one, whether it be physically or emotionally. (However in this case, physically)

"You want to waste more of my time? I've got better things to do Ino, now if you excuse me; I'm off to attend to those…_duties_," Sasuke nodded, beginning to venture down the right side of the hall.

Ino gasped and pouted as she watched the Uchiha begin to peer into every room he walked pass; merely 'Hn-ing' when he got verbally abused by whoever was occupying the hospital room.

She exhaled nosily and straightened out her low cut shirt, before storming off into the direction of the staff's lounge; muttering under her breath.

**(A/N: Am I doing a good job at confusing you's? xD**_–refers to Ino being engaged to Shikamaru yet obviously somewhat flirting with Sasuke-_**)**

--

Sakura sighed as the winter sun shone threw her hospital room window; its orange rays bringing warmth to her shivering body as if she had a third blanket covering her; she wished not to be indoors on such a nice day. Winter in Konoha meant hardly any sun, so as soon as the sun graced the dull winter sky; most people would be rushing outside and trying to make the most of it before it disappearing behind a white plume. She'd only ever encountered this uncommon winter sun twice in her life.

One of the times being at the age of 13. At the time, hearing that she'd be on the same genin team as Naruto Uzumaki was probably the worst thing that had happened to her to date, but then the unthinkable happened- it was announced that Sasuke, her long time crush, would also be joining them. She remembered that night she was so excited over the days events that it took her a while to fall sleep, and just as slumber had grasped her, she found herself jumping out of bed and preparing for the day to come; **1.** Seeing Sasuke. **2. **Meeting their sensei. (Who she would later identify to be one of the most talented male shinobi to have ever existed.) **That** was the day she officially become apart of Team Kakashi, after passing a test no team till then had passed which allowed her to move forward into the ninja world and eventually leading her to ask Tsunade for medical ninjutsu training.

The second occurrence was about 2 years ago when Tsunade had invited her to have lunch with Shizune and herself; they were dying to try out the new outside restaurant that had opened up near the market place. Of course unlike Shizune and herself, Tsunade was more eager to test out a new sort of Sake the restaurant had advertised rather then the actual food itself and ended up having to be carried back to her room. Sakura distinctively remembered feeling the sun's warmness touch her body as Shizune and herself struggled to get a drunken Tsunade to her room, whom in between her drunken chitchat revealed Sakura would be placed into an ANBU squad due to her outstanding abilities. **That** day leading her to where she was now; a strong, respected kunoichi in the best ANBU squad in Konoha.

The side of Sakura's lips rose and formed a smile as she finished reminiscing about the two occasions on which she had encountered this rare winter sun; ironically they were both **mass** turning points in her life.

_-Coincidence? We shall see- _Sakura giggled to herself; wondering if anything would happen today that would change her life forever or atleast begin something that would change her life forever.

"I never realised how boring being in hospital is. I guess I should look after myself a bit more on missions," Sakura sighed to herself, as she twirled a strand of pink hair around her finger.

"Good thing I came to visit you then, ne?" a charming voice interrupted the maddening silence.

Sakura dropped the strand of hair she was twirling around her index finger and looked up in alert; coming eye to eye with a familiar pair of sparkling blue eyes she remembered to have seen earlier that day.

"H-Hi, how'd you get in- uh, what are you doing here?" Sakura frowned, staring up in disbelief at Jiro, who finished tying the string to his blue bath robe and sat on the edge of Sakura's hospital bed.

"I thought I'd come visit you, I heard one of the nurses in the hall saying something about a 'Sakura Haruno' so, I asked that ditzy blonde at the reception desk where I could find you- is she always that pissed off?" Jiro arched an eyebrow.

Sakura laughed and rested her arms in her lap. " 'scuse you, that ditzy blonde at the reception desk just so happens to be my best friend and as for the pissed off part- well, lets just say she gets worked up easily- I can't imagine what'd get her so worked up in a hospital though,".

"Maybe she realised you don't come to work dressed as a hooker," Jiro chuckled.

Sakura laughed and tried to playfully slap Jiro on the shoulder, but found her hand being caught and forced to entwine with his own. The two locked eyes as lovers do, before both looking away with a light red colour covering their cheeks as their hands unlocked.

"Wait- how'd you know I was Sakura? I never told you my name, atleast I don't think I did," Sakura arched a perfectly shaped pink brow.

"The nurses in the hallway were debating whether 'Sakura Haruno's' hair colour was natural or not, of course I only assumed they were talking about someone with pink hair- and what do you know? I was right," Jiro smiled, crossing his arms against his chest.

"Ugh, of course people are dying and the thing concerning them is whether my hair colour is real or not," Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Well I can already see you're not like other girls, are you?" Jiro smirked, moving closer to the pink haired teenager.

"Of course not, which is why I won't hesitate to punch you through the wall if you move any closer," Sakura smiled sarcastically, looking at the space between them.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Jiro nodded. "So then, now that I'm at least able to walk, how about we go for some lunch?".

"Well, I'm in a hospital bed if you haven't noticed," Sakura laughed and waved him away, as gazed out the window.

"It's ok, theres vending machines on the second floor, I can get us some snacks, that shall be our lunch," Jiro grinned; he enjoyed pushing her buttons, of course it would be a bonus if she actually agreed.

"My my, you don't really don't know the meaning of giving up do you?" Sakura replied sarcastically, snapping her head back and facing the smirk bearing boy; from this angle, she swore he kinda looked like blue-eyed version of Sasuke.

"Why would I give up? It's obvious you're playing hard to get," Jiro winked.

"You're so-".

"Charming?".

"No,".

"Handsome perhaps?".

"Annoying," Sakura laughed.

_-__If only I could make her laugh like that- _Sasuke sighed inwardly as he continued to watch the two closely. He'd been standing at the door for quite a long time but no-one seemed to notice him.

Sakura's laughter faded and she froze as Jiro grasped her hand again. His hand was so soft and warm; it just made her want to melt. She felt her cheeks begin to radiate with heat as Jiro tightened his grip on her hand, stroking her knuckles with his index finger and looking up at Sakura with the most serious expression she'd seen on him yet.

"So annoying that you'll give in have lunch with me?" he grinned stupidly.

_-__Fuck. - _Sasuke twitched feeling a slight annoyance shock through him as he processed the words the stranger had just said.

Sakura laughed and rolled her eyes; unintentionally averting her gaze to the door and coming eye to eye with someone who was anything but a stranger to her. Jiro felt Sakura's hand tense up and immediately turned around to see what had caused such a thing to happen.

Sakura shook her hand out of Jiro's grasp and cleared her throat.

"Sasuke, what are you doing here?" Sakura arched an eyebrow.

The Uchiha just stood in silence staring, not so much at Sakura, but a Jiro. He'd thought he found the voice somewhat familiar when he had begun listening to their conversation, but now that he had turned around; Sasuke was sure it was exactly who he thought it was.

_-What the hell is __**he**__ doing here? And what's he doing with Sakura?!- _Sasuke growled inwardly, feeling an intense anger bubbling up inside of him. Or was it jealousy?

Jiro smirked as he continued to watch Sasuke obviously seething with anger and jealously and slang an arm over Sakura who was looking more uncomfortable by the second and shook him off.

"Sasuke?" Sakura spoke again, looking up at the Uchiha with a worried expression.

**(A/N: At least**** its longer then the other one :( ggguuuyyysss :( I had to stop writing coz my uncle's mom is coming to stay over at our house for a few days in about 2 HOURS! so we have to go to the airport. And also…I won't be on the computer much, therefore unable to write, so I really am sorry :( :( :( but this was all I could write right now. I feel terrible, but hopefully you liked this chapter so much that you didn't care that it was pretty short. XD next one will be longer, I swear on my life alright?**

**Jiro is really friendly towards Sakura for only having just met her don't you think? Hehe.**

**And Ino coming onto Sasuke, WTF?!**

**You'll understand soon enough xD xD xD**

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	5. 5

(A/N: Excuse my language but HOOOOOOOOOLY SHIT

**(A/N: Excuse my language but HOOOOOOOOOLY SHIT!! I cannot believe how many reviews/story alerts/fav story I got… like I opened up my email and LITERALLY fell off my chair. I am truly amazed at the response this story is getting. Thankyou so much to everyone whos been reading, without you guys, my story would be exactly that- just another story. 333**

**Replies to the reviewers:**

**Harajuku7-**** Cool? I'm glad you think so, thank you for the review :)**

**Yumi-chann-**** Haha jealous Sasuke is awesome xD I'm glad you find it entertaining, thankyou for the review :)**

**Madskittlez****- TAAADAA! Update is here, I hope you enjoy it. Thankyou for the review.**

**Firevixen73****- xD glad you like it, and as stated in the authors note after the this chapter, I will be explaining how Sasuke&Jiro know eachother :) Thankyou for the review.**

**Caramel Crazy****- Bad thing? Hrm.. well put it this way, its an ENTERTAINING thing xD Thankyou for the review :)**

**Unicens****- THE WAIT IS OVER! –super hero pose- haha, hope it was worth it xD thankyou for the review :)**

**Nicole- Aww thankyou xD Jiro.. well.. wait and see! Mwhahaha. Updates here, hope you like it. Awww yes, boys are really like that, it's a shame isn't it? Don't worry, you'll find it some day ;) don't give up! Aaaaaaaaand thankyou for the review :)**

**& THANKYOU SO MUCH TO ALL THESE PEOPLE BELOW, YOU ROCK gives unlimited supply of cookies xD **

**Swallowtail4girl, Coral8888, Harajuku7, Kagomesheart, Yumi-chann, ****Kagayama16****,PrissyNarutoLover4Ever (for both stories that you alerted&favourited), Madskittlez, Vallqt, Firevixen73, DarkAnimeAngel13, Silver-heart377, AnimeForeverL0ver, Naughtyninzi, AngelDyingRed**

**And so chapter two begins!:**

**4 years ago:**

_Sakura sighed as she traced the cracks in the dull cobblestone path with her eyes, listening to the 'click!' her shoes made every time they came in contact with the ground and feeling the cold night breeze touch her skin; causing shivers down her spine. As she continued to walk forwards, she suddenly heard another's footsteps syncing with hers and immediately lifted her head up, watching as the dark figure moved into the glow of the street light._

_She gasped silently as she studied the figure over and over, hoping her emerald eyes weren't playing tricks on her. Sure enough, her eyes had not deceived her- it really was him. But what was he doing out so late? The Uchiha continued to walk forwards; looking into the distance with a blank expression, as if Sakura wasn't even there. A shiver rolled down the back of Sakura's spine as she spotted a back-pack slang over Sasuke's shoulders and was quickly put into a negative thoughtful state._

_Sasuke came to a halt not far from the mildly distressed kunoichi; his handsome voice breaking her away from her thoughts._

"_What are you doing here so late?" He began. "Just out for a walk?"._

_Sakura gulped and lowered her head slightly. "In order to leave the village, you have to take this road,"._

_Sasuke studied her for a moment, before continuing his walk down the cobblestone path. "Go home," he spat as he walked passed her carelessly._

_Sakura could feel her heart begin to up its pace and her eyes were beginning to sting and feel heavy as Sasuke's steps echoed behind her. A warm, heartbroken tear kissed her cheek and outlined her jaw line rapidly as she swallowed some saliva in order to stop her throat from feeling as if it had just been scratched out._

"_Why?" she whispered barely audibly, trying to control the jitter in her voice. "Why won't you say anything to me?!"._

_More tears began to escape her eyes as she stared at the Uchiha symbol on the back of Sasuke's shirt disappear further into the distance. He couldn't be leaving the village- could he?_

"_Why do you shut everyone out? Why won't you tell-,"._

"_Why do I have to tell you?" Sasuke cut in, coming to a halt in midst of his walking. "I'm telling you to mind your own business, stop bothering me all the time,"._

_Sakura froze and averted her gaze to the ground; her tears making her vision too blurry to see anything. "You always act like you hate me Sasuke,"._

"_Do you remember? When we became genin…the day we were put into a three man team and we were alone at this very spot…you were angry at me weren't you?" Sakura exhaled, lifting her head up and trying with all her might to control her voice as more tears welled up in her eyes._

"…_I don't remember," Sasuke replied plainly._

"_Of course, that was a long time ago," Sakura giggled nervously, allowing her head to drop again; her tears now staining the very spot she was standing on. "But it all started that day, team Kakashi I mean…The four of us have done a lot of mission together…it was brutal, difficult and at times unbearable…but… it was fun,"._

_A faint smile graced Sakura's face as she momentarily reminisced about all their times together, from when they met, till now. "I know why you're doing this Sasuke, but with revenge alone- you won't make anyone happy, not even yourself,"._

_Silence._

"_You don't think I know that? I'm not like you guys, my path is in the opposite direction. The four of us together, sure, I have thought of that as one possible path, but my heart has chosen revenge, I can't be like you and Naruto," Sasuke replied in an emotionless tone, it surprised Sakura that this was having no effect on him whatsoever._

"_Sasuke you told me being alone is painful…I understand that so well it hurts…I have friends and family…but without you…to me…it's the same as being alone!" Sakura sobbed, clutching both her hands over her chest as her tears violently coated her face._

"_New paths are always starting, mine begins from here-,"._

"_I…I love you more than anything!" Sakura cut in. "I promise if you stay you won't regret it! You'll be happy because there's nothing I wouldn't do for you! Don't go Sasuke! Please don't go!"._

_She knew what he was going to do in the end, but she just hoped that maybe, __**just maybe**__ he might change his mind, for just thinking about life without Sasuke was unbearable, but without him actually here, her life would be nothing. Sakura sniffed as tears continued streaming down her face looking as if they had no end._

"_After all this time… you're still annoying," Sasuke whirled around and smirked at the sobbing kunoichi before nudging his head back and continuing to walk onwards._

"_Please don't go! If you leave I'll screa-," Sakura stopped abruptly as she felt a familiar presence behind her._

"_Sakura…Thankyou…"._

**(A/N: Just so we're clear, Yes I did change most of the dialogue from the actual anime, but parts of it is still left in what the said)**

**Present Tense:**

It had taken her a year to stop crying. Two years to complete Tsunade's training. Three years before she was regularly doing missions with her ANBU squad. Four years until she had gotten to see Sasuke again and even now he just stood there, with an emotionless expression, staring at anything but her; once again ignoring every question she asked- just like the old days.

"Who's your friend Sakura?" Jiro asked in an innocent tone while smirking at the resentful Uchiha who clenched his fists to the point of being able to clearly see his hands bone structure.

"I see you're still as pretentious as ever," Sasuke muttered under his breath.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Jiro slanted his lips upwards in an angered fashion; however he was partly relieved Sakura hadn't heard.

"Uchiha- can you answer me, now?" Sakura arched an eyebrow as she leaned back on her hospital bed; allowing the winter sun to glow on her clear complexion.

Sasuke twitched at the way Sakura had spat out his last name with such annoyance and anger; he wasn't used to people talking to him with such disrespect and it was quite unusual that Sakura would. Perhaps he really should have gone about this in another way and actually come up with some sort of plan before idiotically strolling into the hospital and expecting her to be as sweet as she had been to him 4 years ago; their earlier encounter was enough to warn him she had changed. However now that he was here, he couldn't just walk away even if everything would go wrong.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted, forbidding himself to show any emotion through voice and expression as he leaned shoulder first on the wooden door frame; she was already mad, he might as well push her buttons for a while, well, until** HE** would let them have some privacy and piss off.

**(A/N: 'HE' referring to Jiro. Just wanted to make sure you's knew incase people are like WTF THAT MAKES NO SENSE! :)) **

"As you can see, this jackass is probably the most social person you will meet," Sakura rolled her eyes sarcastically.

"I can see that," Jiro nodded.

"Who needs to be social these days? Actions speak louder then words, I thought you of all people would know better Sakura," Sasuke smirked, crossing his arms in front of him.

_-Control yourself; just pretend that he isn't here - _Sasuke thought to himself.

"What do you want?! Can't you see I have a _guest?_," A girly angered grunt escaped Sakura's lips as she stared at the 'smirk bearing jackass'.

"Who?" Sasuke asked, darting his eyes around the room comically, before locking eyes with the pink-haired kunoichi and smirking.

_-Now you've got it- _Sasuke perked.

"Sakura, you failed to mention your_ friend_ was also blind," Jiro laughed, winking at Sakura who's laughter also filled the room.

_-Once and asshole, always an asshole- _Sasuke frowned.

"As much as I am enjoying this, I'd really like to talk to Sakura, so perhaps you should go spread your lame jokes around another part of the hospital and leave us two be," Sasuke smirked, allow his sharingan to activate as he glared at Jiro.

_-He wants to talk to me? What…- _Sakura bit the side of her lip thoughtfully.

A flick of annoyance ignited in Jiro's eyes as he watch Sasuke's smirk almost forming into a smile. They both knew when it came to fighting, Sasuke had the advantage and in fear of starting something in front of Sakura and trashing what he had spent all morning working on- he'll be the bigger man and let it go.

"Looks like I'll be leaving you two alone, sorry Sakura," Jiro smiled sweetly as he turned to face the pink kunoichi, who looked saddened at the turn of events.

Sasuke clenched his teeth as he watched Jiro rest a hand under Sakura's chin and brush the side of her cheek with his thumb before lifting her delicate hand to his handsome face and planting a kiss on her knuckles. Sakura blushed a light pink as her hand fell back into her lap; glaring at Sasuke as Jiro exited the room.

"Was nice seeing you again, however it doesn't end here Uchiha, so don't get over excited," Jiro whispered slyly as he knocked into Sasuke on his way out.

Sasuke merely 'Hn'd before taking a step inside the hospital room and shutting the door behind him firmly. He had gotten rid of Jiro, now what was he supposed to do? If only Naruto were here, somehow… he'd make things less awkward.

_-I can't always rely on Naruto to help me with these sort of things- screw this, perhaps another time, I need to find out why she was with that creep first- _Sasuke sighed inwardly, taking a few more steps into the room until he was standing at the foot of Sakura's hospital bed.

"Did you really have to do that?" Sakura growled, allowing her voice to heighten slightly.

"What were you doing with him?" Sasuke questioned, locking eyes with Sakura.

"Just talking. That's none of your business anyhow," Sakura replied, folding her arms in front of her.

_-What is up with him today?- _she thought.

"Hn. Sakura… I don't want to see you with him again,".

"Says who?" Sakura smirked.

"Trust me," Sasuke nodded; beginning to pace up and down the room.

"That's promising," Sakura chuckled. "You just leave me to do whatever the hell I want, alright Sasuke? I don't recall the time I gave you permission to start ordering me around as you wish,".

"Stop being so difficult and listen to me!" Sasuke growled, stopping mid pace and staring intensely at the hospitalized teenager in front of him.

"Listen?! Perhaps if you want people to listen to you, you should start listening to them especially when they're crying like theres no tomorrow and pouring their pathetic 13 year old hearts out!" Sakura shouted angrily, turning away from the stunned Uchiha in disbelief.

_-Hypocrite- _She thought to herself.

"Sakura...," Sasuke began.

He hated to admit it to himself but Sakura had a clear point. The way he handled things on the night she were referring to were completely unpleasant and insensitive. If only he could go back, he'd change everything- she wouldn't look so broken whenever she looked at him, instead, she'd be so happy that a smile would never leave her face unless she was sleeping and whenever she spoke of him she wouldn't spit his name out as if it were a piece of food that had caused her to choke, instead, she'd add one of her signature girly giggles that he hated the fact he loved, to the end of it.

"What did you even want to talk to me about?" Sakura cut in impatiently, her voice a lower tone then it had been a couple seconds ago.

"Nothing, it wasn't important. I'll be off now, it was…nice to see you _again_," Sasuke bowed, before placing his hand on the door knob.

Before exiting the room, the Uchiha came to a halt.

"Sakura…,".

"Hm?" Sakura looked up dumbfoundedly.

"I'm sorry," and with that, the raven-haired teenager had disappeared, before Sakura could respond.

"What…do you…," Sakura's voice trailed off as she continued to stare at the now empty spot where Sasuke had been standing. "..mean".

--

**3 Days later:**

"Sakura! You're out of the hospital," Shizune sang as she looked in Sakura's direction happily.

Sakura smiled and nodded at the two women in front of her as she closed the Hokage Office door behind her. "Indeed. I can't say I'm at my best, but if I was to spend another day in that hospital, I'm positive I would have gone mad,".

"Just as long as you're feeling better," Tsunade smiled. "Now, are you wanting to spend the rest of your week lazing or round, or can I start you on something?".

Sakura sighed inwardly. Another mission? She was really rather hoping that she could spend the last few days of her week off shopping with Ino or having lunch with Naruto and Hinata; but she couldn't say no to Tsunade without feeling an enormous amount of guilt afterwards. Tsunade sensing Sakura's hesitation decided to lighten up the mood by explaining more about this 'mission'.

"It's not what I would call a mission. As you know- or should know, the Konoha Valentine's Festival is coming up and I was hoping that you would take responsibility in organising it all. Ino has had the job for the passed 3 years and each year was more disastrous then the one before," Tsunade chuckled lightly.

Sakura relaxed her muscles and sighed in relief. "Why me though?".

"Look Sakura, I know why you're stalling, so I think its important for me to say this. I never got to apologise for sending you on such a mission, I wasn't aware that it would take so long and I feel terrible that technically I have taken away 2 years of your life you will never be able to regain. I'm sure hearing me wanting to set you up for another task is the last thing you want, and if that is the case, I will offer it to Ino. Besides, if anything, you weren't trained to organize festivals," Tsunade smiled weakly; you could tell she was genuinely feeling guilty.

"No, No- stop. That's not what I meant; I was just wondering why you'd want me to plan this?" Sakura assured her master with a smile.

"Sakura, when I first met you, I thought- what could this lost girl with the absurd hair colour possibly achieve? The question now has turned to, what _hasn't_ this strong, young woman achieved?" Tsunade explained, nodding her head in agreement to her words.

"I'm not sure I understand Tsunade-sama," Sakura frowned in a confused manner.

"I know I can trust you Sakura, besides your organization and brilliant creativity will be a great addition to the job- creating a valentine festival the likes of which Konoha has ever seen," Tsunade laced her hands together. "I can only hope you'll accept the offer,".

"Aw, you're to kind Tsunade-sama, of course I will, in all honestly, I was just worried I'd be sent on another mission. I really don't think I could handle being away from here for so long so soon," Sakura smiled.

"That won't be happening again, I give you my word. Now, first I will need you to go to the supermarket and write down anything you think will be necessary and when you're done, give your notes to Shizune and then hand out these flyers," Tsunade ordered, pointing to colourful stack of sheets at the foot of her desk.

"Flyers? Can't you get Naruto to hand those out; I mean seriously, carrying out such a simple job will probably harm my reputation," Sakura laughed, snatching the sheets off the desk.

"If you wish to appoint him such a task, so be it, if he resists; tell him its one step closer to becoming Hokage," Tsunade chuckled, crossing her arms against her chest and leaning back on her chair.

"Do you really suppose he's that gullible these days?" Sakura giggled.

"It's worth a try. Oh, I almost forget, do we know who this strange kid is yet? I've got him cleaning Academy bathrooms," Tsunade asked, her voice turning serious.

_-Jiro…- _Sakura thought.

"Um…he claims to have no memory of how he got from the Mist to the Sound, other then that nothing. He really is a nice guy though- I wish you wouldn't be so hard on him," Sakura sighed.

"As Hokage I have to take every precaution-".

".._Because the safeness of the village rests in my hands and the decisions I make will affect the village_. Yes, yes, I get it, you've said it so many times," Sakura laughed, poking her tongue out at Tsunade.

"You better hope you can afford to make jokes," Tsunade smirked. "Now off you go! I want those notes on my desk and those flyers handed out by tomorrow morning,".

Sakura nodded, bowed and exited the room. She had to admit, this was a little exciting, it would be a nice alternative to missions. Then again, how did Tsunade expect her to continue interrogating Jiro and work on a festival she was meant to be putting all her effort into?

"Her pushing is unintentionally, I'm sure," Sakura smiled to herself as she exited Hokage Tower.

--

_-Ok decorations is done, next I'll start with the food, after that booking rides- _Sakura sighed as she quickly scribbled down something on her clipboard.

Sakura titled her head upwards as she entered the food district of the market. She could smell fresh ramen being cooked, fish, vegetables and sweets, everything perfect for a festival. She smiled and continued walking forwards as she began to scribble some notes on her clipboard, when suddenly, she was knocked onto the ground by some lunatic.

"Oii! Watch where you're going!" Sakura shouted, clutching the side of her body. "Are you fucking blind or something?!".

"I'm sorry, however, I believe it was you who walked into me, perhaps looking down while walking in crowd isn't wise, now is it Sakura?" a familiar voice replied.

Sakura's eyed widened. She could practically hear the smirk in his voice; there was no mistaking it. Suddenly she felt a hand wrap itself around her waist and pull her back on her feet forcefully.

**(A/N: Yay for longer!! I really really really wanted to write more, but as I said, my uncle's mom is staying over and I can barely go on the computer because I don't want to be disrespectful, BUT I stayed up ALL NIGHT to write this xD I had a sudden flow of inspiration and I knew if I didn't start writing it'd go to waste. So wooooo. Hope you's enjoyed it. **

**So even though it's not written, Sasuke has just decided no matter what, he's going to get Sakura and he wont let Jiro have her because obviously they looked to be pretty cosy in the hospital. xD**

**Sakura, well now, you might thing, this whole VALENTINES FESTIVAL is a piece of crap? Well… I think its good xD because 1. it has something to do with Ino..and lots of stuff will take place on this "night" so BRACE YOURSELF INTERESTINGNESS AHEAD haha xD **

**Now, you's all want to know how Sasuke and Jiro know eachother correct? That will be revealed in the next few chapters, not sure which, but they will xD.**

**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! FREE COOKIES.**

**Hope you's are well,**

**Love,**

**Toxica**

**xoxoxoxox)**


	6. 6

………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………

**(A/N: Update as soon as I could, hope you guys like this chapter. Unfortunately I got some homework to do which is why I'm making this note quick, so I can' reply to reviews!!**

But I just want to say to everyone that's been reading this story, reviewing, alerting and such, THANKYOU SO MUCH. Hugs&kisses!

**Enjoy Chapter 6 :) )**

Her day had started off as perfect and chaos free as she had hoped. It was a pretty warm morning considering it being winter, so the pink-haired medic nin had taken advantage of such weather and decided to check out of Konoha hospital before it would get too cold to even want to take a step out of bed. She'd informed Ino that she would no longer be spending anymore time in the hospital, no matter if her health was completely up to scratch or not, and then dashed back to her room with a box taken from hospital storage Ino had lended her, so that walking home carrying a toy stores worth of plushies and a sweets shop worth of chocolate; not to mention every flower bouquet she had received, would be a lot easier. When she had gotten back to her apartment, she'd taken a relaxing, warm bubble bath followed by a short nap before reporting to Hokage Tower to speak with Tsunade.

However now that she had just been yanked off the asphalt ground with force (by a person who she identified the moment they spoke), sporting a severely skinned knee and a torn skirt- things seemed to be getting worse by the minute and she found herself wishing she'd never left the hospital in the first place- no matter how boring it was. Or perhaps standing in the middle of the market, being held around the waist by an Uchiha was more pleasant then she would admit to herself.

Sakura squirmed slightly as Sasuke's grip tightened around her waist. Her head was violently yelling at her to back away and to wipe that microscopic smile, which he would spot in a matter of seconds, off her face before he got any ideas; but she couldn't move, she just stood there, pressed up against his body, feeling his defined abdominals press into her breasts every time he took a breath and that same breath coating her forehead.

_-How dare he put his hands on me?- _Sakura gulped, clenching her fists together.

"What's this?" Sakura arched an eyebrow, lowering her eyes to Sasuke's perfectly sculpted arm which remained tightly wrapped around her waist.

"Just being helpful," Sasuke spoke, nudging her so that she would tilt her head upwards and face him. "You should be thankful that I'd be so kind, considering you ran into me,".

"Maybe you shouldn't be standing around like an idiot waiting for people to run into you, and then putting your sleazy hands all over them, Uchiha" Sakura sniggered, allowing herself to swiftly slip out of the Uchiha's grasp.

"Hn," Sasuke simply replied, slipping his hands into his pockets. "Harsh set of words,".

"There's more where that came from," Sakura smirked, kneeling on the asphalt and picking up her scattered belongings as she muttered under her breath irately.

A light hiss escaped Sakura's lips as she rose from the ground clutching her knee, nearly stumbling before grasping onto Sasuke's shoulder for support; earning her a cheeky smirk from the Uchiha who watched her with interest. After a while she pushed herself up, regaining posture, and exhaling nosily as she pushed her pink bangs out of her eyes.

"Are you ok?" Sasuke arched an eyebrow.

"Yes, Yes, why wouldn't I be ok? I get run down by lunatics in the market everyday, no big deal," Sakura rolled her eyes as she angrily limped forwards, hissing and muttering incoherently.

_-And to think I just got out of the hospital, now I'm going to have to go back and borrow some tools- this knee is going to need stiches. What is he- like a brick wall or something!? Ugh!- _Sakura thought, exhaling nosily.

Sasuke smiled as he tried to suppress some laughter; Sakura looked unbelievably cute when she was frustrated, but he knew getting too close would be fatal and might result in him failing to reproduce in the future, if you know what I mean. The Uchiha came to a sudden halt as Sakura spun around and arched an eyebrow.

"Taken up stalking as a hobby, Uchiha?" she sneered.

"No, however, thanks for the tip, I might look into it sometime," Sasuke smirked, folding his arms in front of him.

The sides of Sakura's lips hesitantly rose; even though he always gave her emotions such an intense work out, Sasuke was always so charming and witty- she found it hard not to like that.

"Fine, do you need something? Or are you going to follow me around for the rest of the day staring at my ass?".

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't like the view, but I was going to suggest you come by the mansion and let me take a look at that wound," Sasuke nodded. "Last time I heard, you're not very fond of hospitals, yet you choose to volunteer in one, I really can't seem to work you out sometimes Sa-ku-ra,".

Sakura chuckled and pushed a stand of pink hair behind her ear; taking a few steps closer to Sasuke, until her mouth was hovering right above his ear. Sasuke bit his tongue nervously and stiffened his body as her breath teased his skin.

"You know, if I were any other girl, I might have taken you up on that offer…just might have. But I'm not any other girl- so I have to ask Sasuke, did the fact that I specialize in medical ninjutsu escape your attention?" Sakura giggled maliciously, stepping back from the Uchiha to watch her words sink in.

Sasuke's eyes widened and he immediately began to curse himself inwardly. Sakura's amazing medical abilities had impressed him most of all, though he had never seen them himself, he had heard great things from everyone, especially Naruto who was always gloating about how great Team Kakashi had gotten since he had left to train under Orochimaru- so how was it that he had forgotten about something that had spent a fair amount of time on his mind?

"That's what I thought- Goodbye Uchiha Sasuke," Sakura smirked, spinning on her heel and continuing to limp around the market place, as if the severely grazed knee didn't faze her in the least anymore.

_-She got me there…- _Sasuke smirked, running a hand through his spiked up raven coloured hair; though the more it felt as if she were pushing him away, the more it made him want to rise to the challenge. He loved her and she would be his, nothing and no-one was going to stand in the way.

--

"Check-mate," Shikamaru sighed plainly.

"Stuff this, I never got this game to begin with," Naruto pouted, crossing his arms in front of him.

"You know, I've played a lot of games of Shougi and this would have to be the quickest," Shikamaru smirked.

"How long did he last?" Chouji asked; his voice made less audible by some chewing and the ruffling of a chip packet.

"Even I can't believe it- 10 minutes," Shikamaru scoffed, slipping a packet of cigarettes out of his vest and lighting a single tobacco filled stick.

"Weren't you going to quit smoking two years ago after- you know…," Naruto gulped, hoping he wouldn't trigger anything unpleasant.

"Hm, I tried, but it became too troublesome to try and kick the habit, it requires too much effort, besides…smoking calms me," Shikamaru replied; letting some smoke escape his mouth as he arched the side of his lips.

The three simultaneously averted their gaze to Naruto's apartment door as Sasuke walked in bearing a different expression rather then his usual blank one. As he proceeded onwards to the kitchen, his eyes never left the floor.

"Was that or was that not Sasuke?" Shikamaru said in a smug tone.

"Yeah it's him alright," Naruto sighed, stacking his Shougi pieces on top of one another out of boredom.

"Anything I should be informed about? You know- concerning this…odd behaviour," Shikamaru arched a brow.

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about," Chouji nodded, stuffing a mini cupcake, which almost looked too good to eat, into his mouth.

"Girl trouble I guess," Naruto grinned; stretching his arms above his head and resting his back on the soft beige carpet.

Shikamaru nodded as he continued to puff on his cigarette; he definitely knew what it was like to have 'girl trouble'- he was engaged to Ino for christ sake, she were the definition. Chouji on the other hand, merely blinked in confusion before finding his snacks contained more interest then such a subject that were being discussed.

"Let me guess…Sakura?" Shikamaru clicked his tongue as he defused the fire in his cigarette and slipped the half-smoked tobacco stick into his vest.

"Duh, don't say anything though- teme thinks he's doing a fantastic job hiding it and I think teasing him would damage his pride; we all know that won't turn out well," Naruto yawned.

The three were suddenly, again, distracted by Sasuke, who walked into the room and casually sat down on the couch next to Chouji; leaning his black buckle-up boots on the wooden coffee table positioned right in front of the couch.

"How's it going teme?" Naruto cleared his throat as he sat up; as a loud kid, clearly silence was not something Naruto was used to.

"I didn't know you would all be here, I was hoping to speak to Naruto-privately," Sasuke spoke coldly, scanning his eyes over the three of them.

_-Again with the 'Naruto'- not that I'd rather be called Dobe, but still- _Naruto humoured himself as he exchanged expressions with Shikamaru who arched an eyebrow.

"Let's go Chouji- we'll finish up this Shougi tournament some other time, if ever," Shikamaru sighed as he stood up, dusting his rear end and nudging his head towards the door while looking at Chouji.

When the inseparable duo had left, Naruto arched an eyebrow as he saw Sasuke's face come to life; every bit of emotion that he had been hiding while Shikamaru and Chouji were present suddenly seemed to burst out of the Uchiha's eyes. For some reason, it was now very clear to Naruto how much Sasuke actually cared for their pink-haired ex team-mate; if Sasuke was willing to express his 'feelings' no matter how much of a fool it would make him seem, then regardless to the mistakes he had made in the past-he did deserve Sakura and Naruto was more then happy to help, because that's all he wanted for the top two most important people in his life, happiness.

--

Sakura sighed as she rolled another sheet of paper behind the clipboard. She'd been in the store for almost 5 minutes and there were already 3 pages of things needed for the festival. Besides entertainment, food would be the most important thing of the night, Sakura wanted their to be a wide range of the stuff, so no-one would feel left out; who were she to spoil someone's fun? It just wouldn't be right, so even if it meant spending hours in the store and getting a million wrist cramps from all the writing she was doing- Sakura was determined to make this years Valentine's Festival one of the best.

"Excuse me, I was wondering if you's were able to cater the appetizers for the Valentine's Festival," Sakura shouted from the back of the store, adding a smile to the end of her sentence as she waited for an answer from the one of the employee's.

It was no surprise to her when the reply she anticipated never came; but it was ok, the store looked quite busy and she was sure she could manage on her own for a little while longer. Sakura continued to dart her eyes around the many shelves of fruit, vegetables, cakes, party packs and cookbooks that lined the walls; scribbling down a few sentences on her clipboard as she did. Her eyes came upon a shelve of ripe tomatoes and she couldn't help but think of Sasuke; they were his favourite after all.

**Flashback:**

_Sakura blushed as Sasuke casually handed her a tomato cut into fours and 2 rice balls; their hands lightly brushing against each other as the exchange happened. Sakura smiled inwardly as she remembered waking up and immediately deciding to have lunch at Sarutobi Park- if she'd had changed her mind, she would have never gotten the chance to hang out with Sasuke-alone and if she had not accidentally lost her lunch on the way, she would have never got to share HIS lunch. You know what they say; things happen for a reason._

"_Sasuke…," Sakura mumbled shyly._

_Sasuke nodded in response to show that he was listening, as he bit into a well prepared, delicious looking rice ball._

"_Um… not that I don't appreciate this but why are you sharing your lunch with me?" Sakura blushed, nibbling on the side of the tomato._

_Silence._

**-Please say something, please say something, please say something- **_Sakura chanted inwardly._

"_I made too much this morning, and it seemed a pity to simply throw the food away," Sasuke replied plainly after a long while, continuing to eat his rice ball._

"_Oh…," Sakura sighed; sadly not receiving the answer she was hoping for. "Thankyou,"._

"_Hn," Sasuke mumbled, swallowing the last of his rice ball and rising from the wooden bench. "I'm going. You can return the lunch box to me tomorrow after training,"._

"_O-ok…Bye Sasuke…," Sakura waved, before sighing disappointedly and allowing her head to drop; listening to the sound of Sasuke's footsteps become more feint._

"_Sakura," a voice spoke suddenly._

_Sakura looked up in surprise. Sasuke had stopped mid pace._

"_Y-Yes?" she gulped as she watched him spin on his heel and lock eyes with her._

"_If it had been __**anyone**__ else… I would have thrown the remaining lunch out regardless," Sasuke smirked, his onyx eyes projecting something other then his usual cold glare._

_Sakura blushed a deep red and felt the sides of her lips rise higher then they ever had around Sasuke. She continued to watch the Uchiha as he turned around and continued to walk down the dusty Konoha path._

**End Flashback**

That was the day Sasuke had really began to notice her; he never did get the lunchbox back. Sakura sighed to herself as she finished reminiscing and continued to scale her eyes across the stores shelves- that is until her eyes landed on a familiar blonde head of hair.

"Ino?" Sakura mumbled under her breath.

Sakura's eyes widened slightly. It was obvious the blonde was shopping for groceries or something along those lines, but wasn't she meant to be on duty at the hospital around this time? Sakura continued to eye the Yamanaka girl curiously; fortunately Ino spotted her as she spun around, knocking her plastic shopping bag into the old lady behind her who glared at the blonde coldly.

"Sakuuuuraaa!" Ino shouted, jogging towards her best friend and almost tripping over a slight crack in the flooring.

Sakura smiled weakly and waved; unable to work out why she suddenly felt abnormally uneasy about talking to the girl. Perhaps she was mistaking fatigue for guilt; planning the valentine festival wasn't as easy as she had originally thought- besides, her earlier encounter with Sasuke wasn't exactly her idea of fun and certainly wasn't easy. Trying to make an Uchiha look like a fool- now that's hard work.

"You shop here? But Sakura, I thought you only lived off of take-away," Ino arched a perfectly plucked eyebrow, unaware to the fact that she had slightly insulted Sakura.

Sakura laughed and hesitantly locked eyes with the blue-eyed hospital receptionist. "Sometime's change can be… good,".

"Oh, you're totally right, see this is why I listen to you, you're such a genius. I'm glad you're my best friend," Ino smiled, resting a hand on Sakura's shoulder.

"Thanks Ino," Sakura smiled subtly. "Ino, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at the-,".

"Hospital? _Duh_, but they let me have three days off just so I could plan the Valentine's Festival, they know how important it is to me! Of course right now I'm just shopping for myself," Ino clapped her hands together excitedly. "Sakura, it is so much fun! This year is going to be so fabulous, you better come!".

Sakura gulped and felt herself tense up.

_-Looks like it wasn't fatigue after all.- _Sakura panicked inwardly, Ino's words echoing in her head.

"Oh my god, Sakura, so tell me, did you talk to Sasuke?" Ino gasped as if she had just figured out the meaning of life.

"Maybe a little too much then I would have liked," Sakura chuckled lightly, shaking her head out of its thoughtful state.

"What did he say!?" Ino asked enthusiastically as she picked a party planning book off one of the shelves- obviously not in the least trying to hide how much interest she had in the matter.

"A whole lot of …._somethings_ I don't understand. He apologised to me Ino...," Sakura exhaled, hugging the clipboard close to her chest incase Ino managed to sneak a peak.

"I told you he loves you," Ino teased.

"He apologised after he yelled at me Ino, you don't yell at the people you love," Sakura rolled her eyes. "Well… not the way he yelled at me,".

"Boys… just so hard to understand," Ino shook her head as she lifted her items onto the black conveyor belt. "Not my Shikamaru though,".

"Lucky you, you haven't spent most of your life chasing around someone you hate the fact that you love, and being well aware that they'll never love you," Sakura muttered under her breath.

"What?" Ino arched an eyebrow; catching a bag of oranges mid air that had fallen off the conveyor belt.

"Nothing; Listen Ino, I have to go, I don't think I can stand being so hungry anymore," Sakura laughed.

"Call me later," Sakura smiled, as she pushed open the glass door and exited the store.

Ino smiled maliciously as she payed the employee behind the counter; eyes locked on Sakura until she disappeared around the corner. "Of course he'll never love you- not while I'm around,".

**--**

"You yelled at her!? That's great teme," Naruto laughed as he continued to wrap a valentine's present which seemed to form the shape of something weirder by the second.

"Shut up dobe," Sasuke growled, violently throwing a pillow at Naruto; which to Sasuke's dismay, he dodged. "I didn't know what else to do, I don't want her hanging around…_him_,".

"Why do you hate this guy so much? I bet it's 'cause you're so JEALOUS," Naruto teased, grinning stupidly at the increasingly displeased Uchiha.

He tried to hold it in, honestly, he did; but 30 minutes seemed to be Naruto's limit of not making fun of Sasuke concerning the topic.

"…..,".

"So you are," Naruto grinned cheekily, admiring his present wrapping skills as he twisted the object from side to side.

"Perhaps, however, that's not my sole reason," Sasuke frowned, clenching a fist that rested in his lap, while his other hand clung onto the couch.

"Ok, then what's the reason?".

Sasuke ran a hand through his raven coloured hair and allowed himself to fall back on the couch as he darted his eyes around the ceiling in thought. What was he to say? Sasuke knew Naruto, probably more then anyone else. Even though they had been away from each other for a long period of time; they would always be as close as brothers, so it was obvious to Sasuke that Naruto probably wouldn't believe him at first, for the blue-eyed Jinchuuriki was the sort of person that refused to think ill of someone unless they were proven guilty; now, exactly how was Sasuke meant to prove Jiro guilty?

"Never mind, it's not important..._as yet_," Sasuke sighed, rising from the couch and making his way towards the apartment door; the chains on the sides of his boots jingling as he walked.

_-You wouldn't believe me even if I told you dobe-_ the Uchiha thought to himself, as he grasped the door knob into his hand.

"Oii, where are you going?" Naruto arched a blonde eyebrow as he looked up from the oddly wrapped object in his hands.

"To find Sakura," Sasuke smirked.

**(A/N: Did you's like? XD I hope xD REVIEW PLZ! REVVVIEEWWW! Oh and the reason why Sasuke doesn't say anything to Naruto is because he doesn't think things are going to get too out of hand :P maybe they aren't? You'll just have to wait and see xD  
Hope you's are well  
Love,  
Toxica  
xoxoxoxox)**


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